1git-format-patch(1) 2=================== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git-format-patch' [-n | -k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread] 13 [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]] 14 [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>] [--start-number <n>] 15 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] 16 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 17 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] 18 <since>[..<until>] 19 20DESCRIPTION 21----------- 22 23Prepare each commit between <since> and <until> with its patch in 24one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 25If ..<until> is not specified, the head of the current working 26tree is implied. For a more complete list of ways to spell 27<since> and <until>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in 28gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 29 30The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 31for use with gitlink:git-am[1]. 32 33Each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 34first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 35the filename. The names of the output files are printed to standard 36output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 37 38If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 39they are created in the current working directory. 40 41If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line 42is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject". 43 44If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and 45References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 46as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 47reference. 48 49OPTIONS 50------- 51include::diff-options.txt[] 52 53-<n>:: 54 Limits the number of patches to prepare. 55 56-o|--output-directory <dir>:: 57 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 58 current working directory. 59 60-n|--numbered:: 61 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format. 62 63--start-number <n>:: 64 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 65 66-k|--keep-subject:: 67 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 68 commit log message. 69 70-s|--signoff:: 71 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 72 the committer identity of yourself. 73 74--stdout:: 75 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 76 instead of creating a file for each one. 77 78--attach[=<boundary>]:: 79 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 80 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 81 second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment". 82 83--inline[=<boundary>]:: 84 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 85 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 86 second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline". 87 88--thread:: 89 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 90 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 91 the Message-Id header to reference. 92 93--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 94 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 95 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 96 provide a new patch series. 97 98--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 99 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 100 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 101 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 102 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 103 ignored. 104 105--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 106 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 107 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 108 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 109 combined with the --numbered option. 110 111--suffix=.<sfx>:: 112 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 113 filenames, use specifed suffix. A common alternative is 114 `--suffix=.txt`. 115+ 116Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you 117want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and 118the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would 119not add any suffix. 120 121CONFIGURATION 122------------- 123You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each 124message in the repository configuration. Also you can specify 125the default suffix different from the built-in one: 126 127------------ 128[format] 129 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 130 suffix = .txt 131------------ 132 133 134EXAMPLES 135-------- 136 137git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k:: 138 Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply 139 them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to 140 cherry-pick them. 141 142git-format-patch origin:: 143 Extract all commits which are in the current branch but 144 not in the origin branch. For each commit a separate file 145 is created in the current directory. 146 147git-format-patch -M -B origin:: 148 The same as the previous one. Additionally, it detects 149 and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to 150 produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the 151 amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to 152 review it. Note that the "patch" program does not 153 understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know 154 the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 155 156git-format-patch -3:: 157 Extract three topmost commits from the current branch 158 and format them as e-mailable patches. 159 160See Also 161-------- 162gitlink:git-am[1], gitlink:git-send-email[1] 163 164 165Author 166------ 167Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> 168 169Documentation 170-------------- 171Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 172 173GIT 174--- 175Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 176